The day before yesterday I finally had some time to go out to take som pictures. The
weather was fine and I took my equipment with me and bicycled about 5km along som
closed dirtroads in the woods.
I've been pondering a similar trip for a few weeks now, and if I don't make it soon, summer'll be gone, and we can't do those sunset exposures at 10 pm anymore.
I was setting up my 20D on the tripod and took a testshot to check the exposure, and
when I walked back to the bag to get some filters the ground shiftet and the whole ting
tok a dive into the water right in fron of the twigs in this picture (the test shot).
Ouch!
My sympathies!
What bugs me most is not that I managed to kill the camera, but that this was the first
time in a while that I had time to be out taking pictures, and I was sitting there without a
camera and the lighting was perfect.
So I think I'll buy myself a 5D tomorrown and go back to FF shooting, I have missed the
viewfinder in my old EOS 1. My plan up to now was to wait and see what Canon comes
out with in september, but a new 1Ds MkIII is probably going to be more expensive than
I'm willing to pay anyway.
Oh, you don't know that for sure!
You could also consider a 1D MkII (N); the viewfinder is lovely, you know the feel from your EOS 1, and while it's not completely FF 135, it's still so close that it often doesn't matter. Even a used 1D MkII is a very, very good camera; you'll love the autofocus accuracy and speed.
I have pretty much decided to go that route, but I'll wait until after Photokina, to see if Canon does launch a spectactular new model to send the used marked prices down. And maybe I have accumulated enough money to buy the new model of whatever by then!
So my advise is: make sure the ground under the tripod is firm, don't asume it is
just becaus it feels that way. No more placing a tripod on grass for me.
I've tried to remember to lean a bit on the tripod when settling it, just to make sure, but maybe that's not good enough either.
Fortunately, I've got insurance on my equipment.
Unfortunately, insurance is expensivish.